In a bid to expand its Reach Hospital network, healthcare major Apollo Hospitals Enterprises Ltd plans to raise funds from private equity partners and institutional investors. The company will set up 250 such hospitals over the next few years, primarily in the tier-II and tier-III cities.
“We may look at raising funds from PEs as well as from others,” a senior official of the company told FE.
Sources in the know said, “Apollo Hospital has tied up to raise funds for the first phase of 15-25 hospitals. Going forward, the company will rope in PEs and institutional investors to add more such hospitals.”
The company is currently building 10 such hospitals, mostly in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, with an estimated outlay of Rs 350 crore.
The company has already pumped in Rs 100 crore as equity and remaining will be via debt. Apollo Hospitals had recently raised Rs 250 crore from IFC ($50 million).
The hospitals which are being set up will be completed over a period of six to eight months and will add more than 1,000 beds, the official said. As per its original plan, Apollo will set up 25 ‘Reach’ hospitals with a bed size ranging between 100 and 150 in the first phase with an estimated investment of Rs 1,000 crore.
Reach Hospitals are aimed at serving poor and needy in the tier-II and tier-III cities across the country at an affordable cost, while meeting part of the Union government’s efforts to provide quality healthcare for people living in semi-urban and rural areas. These hospitals have been especially designed for less developed population and are smaller, simpler and offer exhaustive service offerings like Apollo’s existing facilities, deliver similar quality care costing less overall to the patient. It may be recalled that Apollo Hospitals had late last year announced its plans to set up 250 ‘Reach Hospitals’ with a total bed size of 31,000 across semi-urban and rural areas with an estimated investment of Rs 10,000 crore.
